The best chopper couplings available

River Lin · Post by **River Lin** » Mon Apr 13, 2015 8:01 pm

Hi
The slaters couplings are,
Ref 16A11
16mm scale standard chopper couplings. £9.04 (pack of two)

Notice I have used one chopper per two units as I found that the pin through one chopper would stop the 2nd from making a connection but being made of brass I feel there is enough strength there. Also there is a little locking hoop that prevents the chopper from opening.
I will do a little work later to ensure all the coupling heights are the same by adjusting the bogies on each coach when all couplings are fitted.
David.

River Lin · Post by **River Lin** » Mon Apr 13, 2015 8:03 pm

Thanks for replies to my brass blackening request.
David.

Soar Valley Light · Post by **Soar Valley Light** » Mon Apr 13, 2015 9:14 pm

David,

They really look the business. I'm very impressed. I'm going to investigate these further, the fact that they are sprung is very attractive. Thanks for sharing the detail. I must keep my eyes open for them in the flesh, so to speak. I'd like to see more to understand them better.

All the best,

Andrew

tom_tom_go · Post by **tom_tom_go** » Mon Apr 13, 2015 9:30 pm

David sorry to pester can you show us the workings of the coupler, underside of the coaches? Interested to see what they look like when they extend out on curves (sprung?)

IrishPeter · Post by **IrishPeter** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 5:22 am

The hoop over the horn of the chopper is the usual solution to the problem of them jumping and uncoupling. The Norwegians favour a cast iron ball on a length of chain, which must be pretty effective as they only seem to use a single safety chain. I would imagine a short length of fine-ish chain with a decent size round fishing weight on the end would work, but I have not tried it yet. Reasonably even track and consistent buffer heights are more important to keeping things coupled together. You would need to put the chain through the hole where you had taken the south end chopper off. I remove the south end hooks on all my rolling stock as I find I have less trouble coupling and uncoupling if there is only one hook per vehicle with which to contend.

Peter in AZ

River Lin · Post by **River Lin** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 11:05 pm

Hi all.
Firstly an apology. On April 13 I said that on the Slaters 16A11 couplings it was only possible to use one chopper to connect two units together. Not being totally happy with this I disassembled the unit, cleaned off any burrs etc and reassembled it again, Slowly and Carefully. The result you can see from the attached photo. A set of beautifully made brass castings put together to make a precision unit utilising two choppers, fitting together perfectly.
So sorry again Mr Slater for misrepresenting your product. I promise not to do it again.

I have since ordered more which arrived within 48 hours.
David.

Keith S · Post by **Keith S** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 12:07 am

Those look amazing!

DGM · Post by **DGM** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 5:56 am

David, those Slater's are great looking couplers. And I like the "locking" hoop.

Question: I noticed you mounted them so that just the outer shank is showing, only about 12mm or so. But the rest of the shank is quite long and the threaded portion is only about the last 7 or 8mm on the rounded shank portion. How do you mount them? Do they come with a bracket to attach behind the buffer? How did you do the square hole?

Thanks.

Greg

tom_tom_go · Post by **tom_tom_go** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 2:00 pm

Hi David,

Thanks for the clearer photos.

Unfortuantely, looking at their size they would not work with the larger Acccurcraft choppers to couple properly?

River Lin · Post by **River Lin** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 8:08 pm

Hi Greg.
To answer your questions.

Above is a coupling on a coach with a drawing to make things clearer how I am doing it.

A - coupling head.
B - square portion on shift.
C - coach body with hole widened to the outside.
D - washer. Size to slide along round threaded portion of shaft but will not go onto square section of shaft. This washer is to stop the shaft sliding out of the coach body. This washer is not included in the kit.
E - spring on the round, threaded portion of shift.
F - nut to retain spring. I added a second as a locknut.

No bracket is included to attach the coupling to the underside of the coach.
I had a small hole drilled already for a buffer coupling so I squared this hole with a square needle file to accept the square shaft and then angled the hole width ways to allow the coupling to swing horizontally.

Here is a photo with the coupling in place with a rectangular plywood plate added to neaten up the look of the hole. I think it looks like a backing plate for the coupling. I might make some tougher plates in brass at a later date.
Sorry to ramble on but hope this helps to show how I fitted the couplings. There may be other methods and I might make modifications in the future.
David.

SpudUk · Post by **SpudUk** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 12:46 pm

I've been very tempted by Slater's War Department choppers (16A12) as I'm modelling an approximation of an ex-military 2' 6" railway, but not had the confidence to ditch my nice, cheap and easy Accucraft choppers and go any more complicated!

rebelego · Post by **rebelego** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 5:24 am

Arrrgh... I have started to look at chopper couplings and it is too many options.
Not just the couplings, but also the height. :?

rebelego · Post by **rebelego** » Tue Sep 15, 2015 3:49 pm

I took this shot at UHB on Sunday.
This shows the typical ball and chain lock and single safety chain.

Must take a closer look at those Slaters couplings.

Soar Valley Light · Post by **Soar Valley Light** » Tue Sep 15, 2015 6:56 pm

That's a great and really useful photo. Thanks for taking it and sharing it. Making a scaled down version of something so simple but effective has to be an good option.

All the best,

Andrew

IrishPeter · Post by **IrishPeter** » Wed Sep 16, 2015 8:34 pm

I have had a go at the ball and chain arrangement, and it is very effective at discouraging chopper jump. The penny also dropped on why the speed limit on Tertitten lines was 25km/h - no automatic brake.

Very nice detail photo, BTW.

Peter in AZ

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The best chopper couplings available

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